The Tale Unfolded
"Jeez, it's warm!" Animus exclaimed as Star, him,
and I trudged across the Lost Desert.
"Eh," I grunted. "Too-hot-to-talk…" I was
wearing a visor, sunglasses, T-Shirt, and shorts. I didn't wear sun block, since
I was naturally tan and never got burnt.
"Well," Star panted. "Be glad you don't have fur
like me." Her shaggy blue pelt drooped in the midday sun.
"Hey Tiari!" Two figures ran towards us. I
squinted. There was one Neopet, a Faerie gelert with large blue eyes, and the
considerably slower one was a person.
"Sublime!" Animus yelped. He ran towards Sublime
(the faerie gelert, duh) and started frolicking.
"Well, if it isn't Flyinghorsemane," I said
wryly, as my friend and the owner of Sublime caught up.
"Ech, you know I hate it when you call me
that. Wouldn't you like to call me by my lovely and one-of a kind name…Katie!"
she answered. We stared at each other for about ten seconds, and then fell over
cracking up.
"It's so great to see you! Why are you here
with Sublime?" I choked out.
"Well," Katie laughed. "My Uni, Chomby, and
Cybunny are all at Training School, and I felt bad for Sublime, so I took her
here to keep her mind off of things. You know, she's so into learning new stuff.
I see you have a new Neopet. Hi, what's your name?"
"Star." The Blue Lupe's ears turned slightly.
"Tiari, do you hear something?" I turned around and looked around.
"Well, there's nothing here…" I shivered, even under the hot weather. "But
I have a feeling we're being watched."
"I'm sure it's nothing..." Katie giggled.
"Are you going to the Shrine? It's right there." She pointed to the tall tower
in the distance. "Sublime always wanted to go there."
"Well, I have to visit Coltzan anyway. Let's
go." With that, the five of us headed over to the shrine.
"So what are you going to do there?" Katie
asked. I hurriedly told her about the fortune-teller and his prediction.
"So basically. I'm not sure what to do," I
finished.
"What if this guy is lying?" Katie asked,
doubtful.
"But what would the fortune-teller have to
gain?" Sublime interjected. "I mean, why would he tell Tiari such a wild lie?
He might get booted off the Island for making her trek across the desert!"
"I guess." Katie threw up her hands. "I give,
I give. Alright, We're here. You better take either Star or Animus."
"No," I objected. "I have an instinct this
concerns all three of us."
I turned around. "You guys ready? We don't
know what to expect."
"I'm ready," Star said.
"So am I," Animus sighed. " Let's go already!"
"All right." I glanced at the Neopets. Star
was surveying the letterings, but Animus was poking them. When he finally jabbed
a figure that resembled a door, the ground beneath us rumbled.
"What did you do?!" I screamed as blackness
swallowed us. I faintly heard Katie and Sublime yelling.
All three of us landed with a thud on the ground.
"Ow..." Animus groaned. "Where are we?" Inside
the Underground Chamber of the shrine, of course. A voice echoed in our mind.
"Coltzan?" Star whispered, awed. Don't be
so surprised. The voice took on an amused tone it's not like I'm all-powerful.
Well, I have powers but I'm not all-powerful.
"So, was the Fortune-Teller lying about us
being important in the future?" I asked. "Because, no offense, but this isn't
a trip I would gladly take any day."
"None taken," the voice replied. "But I'm
afraid your fortune-teller was right on Animus and Star being the Keys, while
you the Carrier."
"How'd you know our names?" Animus asked.
"No, forget that, what do you mean by keys and carriers?"
Here, perhaps this will explain some things.
Sit down, because this story will take a while.
Coltzan's Story
A long, long time ago, Neopia was one large place. It had mountains, and
lakes, and all that sort of things. But there were five different people that
argued on how Neopia was to be governed. Lord Temperus, Lord Greenleaf, Lady
Aquarius, Lady Windsong, and Lord Htlead.
Lord Htlead said there should only be one
ruler that commanded all, him of course, and the others could just be the Lords
and Ladies they were. But the others believed Neopia should be split into different
regions that they could govern, for it was too large.
The angry Lord Htlead wasn't one to be brushed
off lightly, so he blasted the center of Neopia, and it split into a bunch of
different places that still haven't all been discovered today. But the Lord
had damaged the core of Neopia, the power that held it all together, and so
the other Lords and Ladies took the damaged core and split into magical tools
that could one day be reunited and eventually become the core again. The four
tools were the Orb of the Earth, the Scepter of the Sky, the Sword of Fire,
and the Amulet of the Waters.
Lord Htlead disappeared, perhaps destroyed
by the large amount of magic he used to split Neopia, and nothing could be done
about it. So the Lords and Ladies decided to each take a tool and govern a part
of land.
Lord Temperus retreated into the fiery volcanoes
of Tyrannia with the Sword of Fire. Lady Aquarius made a home in the deep waters,
actually taking a small particle of land and sinking it below the surface. Of
course she had the Amulet of the Waters. Lord Windsong raised a part of land
instead of sinking it, and became the Guardian of Faerieland with the Scepter
of the Sky. And finally, Lord Greenleaf found a piece of desert he liked very
much and resided there with the Orb of the Earth, which he used to make a few
plants to spruce up the place.
But there is one more piece of the story,
and that's where you come along, Tiari. It appears there was a part of the core
that couldn't be made into a tool, but rather it was predicted it would one
day join into a woman, and she would birth the child who would be the Carrier
of the Four Tools, and the Two Keys would link with the Carrier to wield the
Tools in the time of need. And that time seems to be now.
As Coltzan ended his story, Star and Animus
turned their wide-eyed faces to me.
"So," I said slowly. "I'm the Carrier to
the Tools?"
Yes, Coltzan whispered. And you will have
to be brave, Tiari, for evil is threatening Neopia once again.
Orb of the Earth
"What kind of danger?" I asked Coltzan,
too nervous for my own good.
I'm not sure. It seems to be very old and
powerful, and I believe it will have minions to carry out the physical tasks.
So be careful whom you trust.
"No prob," I replied. "But where are the Four
Tools? I'm sure not carrying them."
Of course they are where the Original Guardians
resided. The Scepter is in Faerieland, the Sword is in Tyrannia, the Amulet
is who knows where, probably someplace in the ocean, and the Orb is here, with
me.
Animus, Star and I started, "What do you mean
the Orb is with you?!" Animus exclaimed. "You're not Lord Greenleaf or whatever!"
Good, you were paying attention to the legend.
Well, you can't expect the Lords and Ladies to live forever! They did live a
long time thanks to the Tools, but each decided they must pass it along to other,
new Guardians. The Orb came to me; you could say I stumbled upon it, since I
was the past Pharaoh of the Lost Desert.
"So the Orb found you, not you found the Orb,"
Star mused. "But why doesn't your daughter now have it?"
Hah! Coltzan laughed. She couldn't
handle it on her life! But now I have to pass it along to you. This may be hard
though, because Tiari will have to join with it.
"Join? What?" I didn't like the sound of it.
Just carrying one of the Tools around is
too dangerous. You have to merge with it. Don't worry, you are the Carrier.
Just hold t and gently push it to your body. Here, be careful.
Something landed in my hands. It was a round
globe-like object, and entirely green. I shifted it to towards the light to
see it better, and realized it was covered with leaf-like patterns. "Now hold
it to you," Coltzan instructed.
I kind of, well, hugged the Orb. It began to
glow with a fierce light and simply, was gone. A faint burning feeling came
to my right cheek, though.
"Wow!" Animus whispered. "Look at your face!"
I fumbled for a mirror in my pack, and quickly
flipped it open. When I looked, I saw a green colored flower shape about covering
an inch of the middle of my right cheek, where it had been slightly burning.
"Cool." I touched the mark gently. "I always
wanted a tattoo."
Now, I will send you back to the surface.
Be brave, young ones. There is more risk than you could ever comprehend.
I felt my body lift, and saw Star and Animus
float up to. We burst out of the chamber, and fell on the sandy dirt.
"Hey, look! The door's gone!" Animus nodded
towards the shrine.
"Tiari! That was so awesome! Where'd you disappear?
And what' s with that tattoo?" Katie ran towards us while Sublime fluttered
with relief.
"Uh…I think inside the shrine. And the tattoo's
hard to explain," I muttered.
"So what now?" Animus asked while nosing Sublime
reassuringly.
"Next up, Faerieland," I said grimly.
"Epul! You have failed me! And even worse,
you have failed Master!" The cloaked figure stalked back and forth angrily.
"Boss, it was my fault, true. I did not retrieve
the Orb before she Merged. It seems she and the Keys went into the chamber.
Coltzan is dead, but his protection spells are strong as ever." The two red
eyes lowered. "And it seems they were able to detect my presence."
"Master is not pleased. First of all, he doesn't
have a physical form yet so he can't do the job. Second, you weren't even able
to steal a simple trinket. But I'll give you one more chance. Now go to Faerieland."
The figure whipped his cloak, and disappeared.
To be continued... | 
